Clasp.



No. 644,612. Patented Mar. 6, I900.

c. C.YLANTZ CLASP.

(Application filed Sept. 15, 1899.)

(N0 Model.)

i lranmnlualmiul HIIIIIII ATTEET INVENTQ CARL c. LANTL M. :EIY 71 0 5 ATM! Fig. 2. the body of the clasp alone.

their various uses.

NITED STATES CARL O. LANTZ, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 644,612, dated March 6, 1900.

Application filed September 15, 1899. Serial No. 730,587. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL G. LANTZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of 5 Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clasps; and I do declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains 19 to make and use the same.

I 5 articles from a waistband, all substantially as shown and described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a section of a waistband and of my new clasp in working '20 position thereon, fragments of suspendingstraps being also shown. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the clasp open; and Fig. 3 is a central sectional elevation thereof on line 3 3, Fig. 4 is a plain front elevation of Fig. 5 shows a vertical sectional elevation of the complete clasp closed, as it also appears in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the tongue.

In clasps of this character several things 30 are desirable, if not practically essential, es-

pecially for convenience for removal from the waistband, so as to enable the band to be washed, and convenience of adjustment to adapt the support-straps to the person and to This implies fiXedness when adjusted; but it is desirable also that when fixed it should not injure or disfigure the band and that it should be convenient to make the change from one place to another 0 when the band is on the person. To these several ends I have made a clasp, substantially as shown, in two parts--the body A and the tongue B. The body A has a substantially V-shaped lower portion, with pairs of slots 2 5 and 3 at right angles to each other for engaging the suspenders O, and along its top is an overhanging lip 4, extending from edge to edge and adapted to hook or engage over the waistband from the inside, as seen in Fig. 1.

This brings the clasp between the band and the person and its lip or hook 4 on the outside. In the said lip is a slot 5 of a size and shape to receive the tongue B and allow it to rest operatively therein. To this end the said tongue has at each edge a small car 6, bent to engage somewhat freely, but permanently, on the cross-bar 7 forming the lower edge of lip 4, thus, in effect, making a hinge connection of the parts A and B, but with the tongue B entered, as it were, from without through slot 5.

Intermediate of the ears 6 the edge of the tongue is curled or bent to form a cam or gradually-deepening projection 8, which cooperates with the somewhat-pointed projections 9, struck up on the inside of the body A opposite or nearly opposite the cross-bar 7 and cam 8, when the tongue is turned down to lock the clasp on the band, as in Fig. 4. In this position theband is firmly gripped by the clasp, but not really penetrated nor possibly torn, as sometimes occurs with buckles, and the adjustment can be made with one hand. By means of having the projec-- tions 9 on the body A the cam can be made perfectly smooth, and so it occurs that there is no drawing up or wrinkling of the band when the cam is turned, and the pressure is always direct, as is also the release.

What I claim is- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a clasp to engage over a band having a hook along its top to engage a band and inward projections formed in its body opposite said hook, and slots at its bottom at an angle to each other, and a tongue hinged on said hook and having a cam to cooperate with said projections for locking the clasp on a band, substantially as described.

2. Aclasp-bodyhavingits upperendturned over its full width and forming a hook and slots in its lower portion to secure suspenders therein, and a tongue pivoted on the said hook and having a portion of its engaging edge formed into a cam, substantially as described.

3. A clasp-body having a slotted hook at its top and slots at its bottom at an angle to each other, and a hinged tongue on said hook having a cam to be turned inward against the band, substantially as described.

4. A clasp-body having a hook portion at its top and slots in its lower portion at an angle to each other to secure suspenders therein,

and a tongue pivoted at its edges and top in said hook portion and having a cam between its pivot portions formed with a smooth surface, and the clasp-body having inward projections formed to cooperate with said smooth cam-surface for locking the clasp on a band, substantially as described.

Witness my hand to the foregoing specification this 8th day of September, 1899.

CARL G. LANTZ.

\Vitnesses:

II. T. FISHER, R. B. Mosnn. 

